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![\"Fox](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4243704_web1_The-Foxes-photo.jpg\")
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Fox Den photo<\/p>\n
From left: Sarah Feutl, Jessy Ardern and Carmen Osaho are the Fox Den Collective.<\/p>\n
Theatre Projects Manitoba calls it \u201can immersive love letter to the theatre and the people who make it mean something.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s essentially two plays taking place concurrently, with actors moving between the onstage and backstage worlds and switching between Shakespearean roles and the fictional characters playing those roles; the audience also switches locations at intermission.<\/p>\n
Traversing provincial borders, the production has been in the works since 2022, when Martin was invited to Alberta to workshop the latest meta-theatrical piece with Edmonton\u2019s Fox Den Collective, a trio of Martin\u2019s University of Alberta alums founded in 2016 by Carmen Osahor, Jessy Ardern and Sarah Feutl.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I went, \u2018Oh, I really want to do this show (at TPM),\u2019\u201d recalls Martin, who was hired there in 2022, succeeding Ardith Boxall, who led the company for 15 years.<\/p>\n
But Martin, who was familiarizing herself with the budgetary constraints of post-pandemic theatremaking, understood the two-show show would not come cheap.<\/p>\n
So the Foxes, as they call themselves, brought their portions of Canadian and Edmonton arts council funding to the potluck.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those things that felt so big only a tiny theatre can do it,\u201d Martin adds.<\/p>\n
Over the past four seasons, while collaborating with exurban theatremakers on workshops and community-oriented storytelling, TPM served as co-producers on Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre productions including David Yee\u2019s Among Men, Armin Wiebe\u2019s The Recipe and Trish Cooper\u2019s Holland.<\/p>\n
Audiences who saw Cooper\u2019s latest this past season are familiar with Winnipeg\u2019s Ardern.<\/p>\n
The actor\u2019s turn as a harried parent at odds with inequitable social-services systems was a season highlight, and her 2024 show Prophecy \u2014 a tour-de-force solo piece directed by Martin \u2014 should assure audiences that they have no idea what will happen next in Closing Night.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Ruth Bonneville \/ Free Press files<\/p>\n Theatre Projects artistic director Suzie Martin<\/p>\n About two weeks after Closing Night closes (it runs Sept. 8 to 20 at PTE), Ardern\u2019s reimagining of Cyrano de Bergerac will open RMTC\u2019s season on the John Hirsch Mainstage. (Oct. 7-31), co-starring Winnipeg\u2019s Stephanie Sy as Roxanne.<\/p>\n The Edmonton Journal called the show\u2019s recently wrapped run at the Citadel Theatre \u201ceasily\u201d the company\u2019s \u201cbest show of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n For R+J, the cast is a mixture of Albertan and local talent, featuring Manitoba\u2019s Arne MacPherson, Gwen Collins, Alissa Watson, Jack Maier, Sam Benson, Chael Donald and Laurel Fife.<\/p>\n Joseph Abetria is designing the costumes, with Jamie Plummer designing props and sets. Robert Mravnik is on lighting, with Ash Au \u2014 the artistic producer of the upcoming Cluster Festival (May 27-30) \u2014 handling the sound.<\/p>\n For more information about the project \u2014 which Martin calls TPM\u2019s most ambitious ever \u2014 visit theatreprojectsmanitoba.ca.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress\/benwaldman<\/p>\n \n \t\t\t\t\t\tIf you value coverage of Manitoba\u2019s arts scene, help us do more. \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Ben Waldman Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University\u2019s (now Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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